Wednesday, November 26, 2008

I want to give a sincere thanks to all the funny, smart, inspiring, provocative, and dedicated readers of this blog (and Scott from Boston). You all help make doing this blog the incredible pleasure it is, and thanks to your (mostly moral) support, 2009 promises to be a fantastic year for Food Wishes!

I will be taking a couple days off to cook, eat, cook, and eat. But, you know I can't keep from posting for too long, so you should see some photos of my Thanksgiving meal soon. If I don’t answer your email, comments, and questions, it's because I'm taking a nap.

Here is some advice I just published on my American Food site on About.com. If you're doing the cooking this year, you may want to check it out. Enjoy!!!

17 comments:

Happy Turkey Day Chef John! I just got two turkeys out of the brine, and am about to mix up two batches of no-knead bread. That should get them in the oven at a point tomorrow when they'll be just warm for dinner at 2. After I make the no-knead, I'm going to make some fromage blanc.

I'm headed to my brother's in the morning to begin the birds and feed about 15 people. (many others are contributing as well) But none have seen the cheese, or the fresh bread. Thanks for all that you do.

I'm Thankful to have crossed paths with your Blog!! You're amazing!!I'll be making Turkey ala ChefJohn tomorrow!! YUMMY!!!May you and yours have a fantastic Day!!!Thanksgiving Poem: May your stuffing be tasty; May your turkey plump.May your potatoes and gravy have never a lump.May your yams be delicious and your pies take the prize,And may your Thanksgiving dinner stay off your thighs!~Angie

Thanks for the great blog chef john. I used 2 recipes of yours this year, the turkey and the Dressing.

That dressing is WOW, love it, we subbed out the apricots for cranberries and it came out great.

The turkey was not as impressive, decent but still a little dry in the breast and tough in the thigh.

The compound butter and gravy were great though, saved the bird for sure. I'm not sure if it's possible to get moist breast and tender thigh out of a 20 pound unbrined bird. Next year I'll demand some earlier access to the bird (I didn't buy or store the turkey).

But anywho thanks. I'm a better cook today than I was 6 months ago when I started reading this blog. My two other culinary inspirations are Alton Brown and mark Bittman, opposite ends of the complexity spectrum. Where alton will go to every detail to improve a dish, Bittman kind of takes a "Do it simple and it's great" approach. This blog is kind of the middle way for me, I don't notice the concessions like I do bittmans, but I can make these dishes regularly unlike Altons.

I made my turkeys in a roasting box, so no help from ya there :-)http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3231/3066615652_e470e1eede.jpg?v=0

I did, however, use the drippings and your gravy tips to make one heck of a gravy. Over a quart and the fam was wiping the sides of the pot! There was none left, and everyone agreed, best ever.

The no-knead bread continues to be a big hit. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3221/3065774549_060eabc22a.jpg?v=0There was no hemming on hawing on who would take that left over home. There were several volunteers.

And the one that got everyone's attention: Fromage blanc de Chef John.http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3149/3066614914_b83d3c82c7.jpg?v=0

I couldn't get a triple batch to curdle correctly, which left me with less curds than hoped for. This made me off on my salt amount. So I mixed in some olive oil before putting it in the fridge, and that cut the salt flavor enough to make it killer. Everyone wanted to know how it's made, so I'm sending all the video. That was another left-over that was pounced upon, and it went incredibly with the bread.

My 12 year old nephew is very picky and didn't try the cheese at first. Then he tried a small bite, then he grabbed a piece of the bread and tried a whole lot. I can't wait to try it on bruschetta!

I made a green bean casserole from Alton Brown's directions and it was the first that particular dish found it's way into multiple helpings.

I love your website! I am clueless when it comes to cooking but ur website has help me a lot. I have been logging in almost everyday now for about 2 months and my family are happy!. Tasty recipe and menu u got:)

As thanksgiving is approching and i will be in charge to do some of the side dishes(my first time),I was wondering if u wouldn't mind sharing the recipe for "Maple Meyer Lemon Candied Yams", "Blue Cheese Green Bean Gratin", "Pear and Almond Bread Stuffing" and "Apple Coleslaw"Thank you so much